Sometimes, I find it easy to believe that Shook does love me more than he reveals. Yesterday, something happened that got me all worked up. This usually happens when I'm extremely disappointed in a friend. Even disappointment in my family doesn't affect me like this.

But I was very upset. I was ready to send out a nasty sms to sever all ties with a particular person. It didn't help that when I mentioned it to Wil and told him how I hated such a behaviour, he agreed with me and said he hates people who do that too.

Then we decided not to talk about this person. I had already decided to myself that I'm going to ignore this person. He seems to ignore us easily enough so we don't care about him anymore. I had calmed down enough to tell myself that, if by today, I was still angry, I was going to send him an sms, then ignore his replies and calls and ban him from my messenger list. If I can cut a friend of 15 years out of my life, I can do more than that to a friend of 7 years. So I was set.

Then, out of the blue, Wil brought this person's name up again and wondered how he was doing. I think Shook heard my sharp intake of breath as I was about to say something very caustic because he quickly said "Why should we bother? After all, it's his life. We have our own."

And he said it so quietly that even Wil knew to back down. It definitely saved me from another outburst. And it definitely gave me a way to not care about this person anymore.

But the fact remains that Shook knows how friends' actions can hurt me even when I don't say much about it. He knows it has a worst effect when I don't say much. When I rant, at least, he knows I'm getting it out in the open. It's when I keep it inside that he realises I'm hurting badly. Where this person was concerned, I said only he didn't want to meet us and left it at that. So Shook knew I was upset and angry. When people have hurt me badly, he knows I tend to have as little to do with them as possible. I can look past members of my family as if they're not there when I'm angry at them. Friends? Even easier to do.

So, you see, it's little things like this that makes me know he cares. He teases me, he bullies me, he makes fun of me. But at the end of the day, he takes the time to do the little things that make me feel better. He buys me things that keep me safe and organised, not because they look pretty. All this, even if I am only catching up with his trains of thought a few years too late.